Category: reflection
-
Belief and Proof
A few days ago Brett Stephens published an op-ed piece in the New York Times that began with a very reasonable statement. He said that he had no idea what happened in the room when Dr. Blasey Ford alleges she was attacked, and he points out that, unless we were…
-
Pain and Rage, Anger and Empathy
Or, Why I Can’t Get Out of Bed After Yesterday’s Kavanaugh Hearings and What I’m Trying To Do About It. Before I say anything else I want to simply express gratitude to Dr. Blasey Ford for testifying yesterday, for telling her story under oath and in public, and for doing…
-
Morphine, Mothers, and a Modicum of Compassion
“If you think she seems uncomfortable I can increase her morphine.” Those were the words of the caring and thoughtful nurse who was standing in the room as I sat on my mother’s bed. My mother’s breath came in ragged sounding heaves. The nurse and I knew she was going…
-
Death Desires
What kind of death do you want? That’s not a question many of us probably want to think about. It presumes that we want some kind of death when many of us would simply prefer not to die. The inevitability of dying doesn’t make it easier to think about desire…
-
Grieving, Writing, Healing
My mother died in 2012 and within a year I was writing a memoir about our relationship and the experience of helping to care for her during her last eight months. For the first few years after her death I frequently had the feeling of wanting to pick up the…
-
Three things – 11/20/16: Identity and the election
This week I’ve ben thinking a lot about identity and the election. No surprise, I’m sure. Identity politics has been at the forefront of many election analyses in the couple of weeks. Racism, sexism, and heterosexism intersected powerfully in this election, and the voting patterns of whites, and particularly of…
-
Three Things That Helped Me This Morning
My initial reactions to Tuesday night were, in order, disbelief, anger, and hopelessness. Over the last couple of days I’ve listened, watched, and participated in a number of conversations about moving forward. Earlier today, I posted the following on Facebook: We’ve come to the point where it’s about “survival” for…
-
Rocking The Boat
My partner Will has a thing for boats. In fact, we lived on a boat for the first three years of our relationship. It was beautiful, and challenging. One of the beauties of boat life was that we were tied to a dock but we floated up and down with…
Elizabeth Anne Wood, Ph.D. 